What are some non-archetypal games?

Most games follow certain archetypes: a battle between a good force and an evil force via physical means, an attempt to accrue resources or points, or to get from point A to point B.

I'm looking for a game that doesn't fit any of said archetypes, but instead provides some unusual form of game play or plot. Does anyone have any suggestions?

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edit by Gnoupi: As usual with CW lists or recommendations, please propose only one game per answer, and once only (edit the existing answer if you want to add details, screenshot, etc).

From gaming Mechko

• Well, I hate to have to say that because it's probably not what you are looking for, but Sims3 fit your description....

  Gnoupi : Most complete Role Playing Game on PC!

  Christian : @Gnoupi Except for the fact that The Sims 3 isn't a Role Playing Game.

  Gnoupi : @Christian - Really? It's a game in which you choose appearance of your avatar, his characteristics, and then have total control on his actions, goals, and what to do with his life. If that's not role playing, I don't know what it is.
  From DavRob60

• Crayon Physics is a great game that doesn't have that typical theme.

  

  The drive is just to get more complicated puzzles completed or to challenge yourself with your own personal feats you come up with.

  Unfortunately it seems geared towards kids and so is simple and short, but I actually got a lot of fun out of it. Also, its just unique gameplay but is devoid of a plot.

  That evolution game has some unique gameplay but I'm not sure that I'd recommend it. Good luck!

  Earlz : this was fun only because I was amazed at how well programmed it was :)
  From Joe

• Katamari Damacy (and the other Katamari-games) You control a ball, on which everything will stick what you touch and is smaller than you. This will make you bigger, which allows you to collect bigger things.

  It's just unbelievably satisfying to become bigger! :)

  Gnoupi : Please separate your answer to have one game per answer.

  eL13 : Alright - done, thought it would have been better, not to spam with my answers ...

  GAThrawn : +1 Just downloaded Me & My Katamari from the Playstation Store onto my PSP a couple of weeks ago, having only played a Japanese import before I was expecting an English version to make more sense. Having the words in a language I understand really makes no difference to understanding, ignore all of that and just roll with it!
  From eL13

• Darwinia. Loved it. IMHO one of the best feature is the unit management: rather than move a unit across the map, I destroy it and then create it in the desired location.

  

  Since is quite dificult to describe it in few words, I'll give a few more links:

  • Darwinia - PC Review at IGN
  • Darwinia - PC - Review - GameZone
  • Darwinia Review for PC - GameSpot

  Quote from GameSpot:

  The Good

  • Unique, abstract art style
  • Simple, fun, and challenging gameplay
  • Excellent and varied soundtrack
  • Doesn't require a beefy system to run smoothly

  The Bad

  • Controls take some getting used to
  • The pace of the game slows way down as missions get more complex

  Ivo Flipse : And why should we love it? ;-)

  Tobias Kienzler : can I +1000 please?

  GAThrawn : Can't check while I'm at work but Darwinia (or at least a decent sized demo) was available for free on Steam for a long time. Strange gameplay, kind of addictive in a "just one more try" sort of way.
  From alexandrul

• Black and White 1 and 2 (loved them both)

  Gameplay

  The player takes on the role of a god ruling over an island populated by various tribes. The player's control over the island is manifested in the Hand, an animated on-screen hand which can move or throw people and objects, tap houses to wake their occupants, cast miracles, and do many other things. Use of the keyboard and buttons in the game is purposely low; to add to the sense of realism, the (usually) mouse-controlled hand can perform every function in the game. In later patches, the Hand can also be controlled by an Essential Reality P5 Glove, a consumer-level virtual reality glove that is no longer for sale.

  Generally speaking, the goal of a level is to gain control over every village on the island. This is accomplished through the performance of impressive acts that will cause the villagers to believe in the player. Villagers can be swayed by everything from helping them with day-to-day tasks to terrorising them with fireballs and lightning storms. Another important element of the gameplay is the player's Creature — a pet of sorts that can be trained to do almost anything, thanks to the game's complex AI, developed by Richard Evans. This Creature is trained by being placed on a leash while the player demonstrates the action the Creature is to learn using the Hand. With time and repetition, it can perform complex functions that will allow it to serve as the player's avatar in the world.

  The principle behind the game's name is the conflict between good and evil. Nearly every action (or lack thereof) will count towards the player's image in the people's eyes. As such, the player may be seen as a heart wrenchingly good god or an utterly evil one. The land and interface will shift according to the player's alignment. A good god will have a white marble temple, a shining white hand, and a peaceful village filled with light. Conversely, an evil god will have a charred, clawed hand, a black temple sprouting venomous red spikes, and thoroughly terrified villagers. Good players try to win over villages through constant help. Common tactics are to donate food and wood, construct buildings, protect the village from other gods, send missionaries, and use the Creature to entertain the villagers. However, villagers become bored with the same attempt to impress them being repeated. In other words if boulders flying overhead become too frequent, they will lose their effect. This forces the player to mix up the methods he uses to convert a village. One can use a balance of good and evil, trying to stay in the gray area. The game presents so many different ways to please a village, however, that the player is never forced to use evil or forced to use good.

  DavRob60 : It's a good game but it fit the archetype : "a battle between a good force and an evil force via physical means"

  Juan Manuel : @Dav, not so physical, you don't have a lot of control over the physical world. Nevertheless, the gameplay is what I find non-Archetypal

  DavRob60 : If I remember my last game, Fireballs are quite physical. ;-) However, I agree that the gameplay is quite unusual, but the goal of the game is still to destroy you enemy.
  From Juan Manuel

• AI War is unusual in that battles take place with literally thousands of ships at a time. The story is pretty good (though at present it's not really present in the game's procedurally generated "campaigns").

  

  Gnoupi : Please separate your answer to have only one game per answer.

  RCIX : @Gnoupi: Done.()

  Gnoupi : Thank you. AI War is also unusual in the fact it's a mix between a 4X strategy game, and a tower defense (all this served with a great AI).

  RCIX : It's also unusual in that the developer intends to keep extending it with free and paid DLC, as well as bugfixes and optimizations, for basically as long as he's in business.
  From RCIX

• Sim City (and it's followers)

  From McKay

• Vangers. You are a... something. Driving another something somewhere for someone to achieve yet some thing else. A very involving game, because you try to understand, but can't.

  From NPC

• Gratuitous Space Battles is pretty much all planning and no story. You customize space ships with modules (like shields, guns, engines, and power generators), then you lay out ships on the battlefield and give them pre-battle order sets (like stay in formation with this other ship, keep moving, attack cruisers at this range) then you watch the fireworks.

  

  From RCIX

• Achron has the particularity to implement time travel in a multiplayer strategy game. (Achron is still in development, currently in alpha phase)

  

  Graphical engine is not super modern at the moment, but I recommend you watch the gameplay videos (especially the multiplayer one), to see how a RTS can be transformed, once you add time travel. Weak brains should abstain. Or prepare an aspirin.

  NPC : Yep, this one is going to be VERY weird (and very archetypal, but that's another story :)).

  Oak : Whoa, a mind blower here.

  Juan Manuel : This looks very promising...

  TheQ : +1 Hoping this game actually finishes development sometime next year. Been watching it for a while.
  From Gnoupi

• Rez - never played it myself :( It's a kind of space shooter, which practically has an Archetypal end. But there is a special Focus on how Userinputs are affecting the Soundtrack of the game, which makes this game non-Archetypal compared to other shooters. (It's a shame that it's so expensive for PS2. I think there was published a HD-Edition for X-Box-Live)

  FallenAngelEyes : Yep, there's a version on Xbox Live Arcade called Rez HD. It's really great if you like music games. It's basically a rail shooter based on music. You can also set your other xbox controllers to vibrate with the music. :)
  From eL13

• World of Goo - Build towers of goo to reach pipes and collect more goo. Very good game as well.

  

  From Jethro Larson

• Pikmin is rather unusual. You avatar (the guy you are controlling) is unable to do anything. All he can do is tell the pikmins what he wants done.

  MGOwen : Pikmin is also very fun (and created by Shigeru Miyamoto who created Mario, Zelda, etc, etc).
  From EricSchaefer

• Populous is another rather unusual game. You are a god and you compete with other gods. But you can not control your people directly. You can only cast some divine magic, like create flat land for the people to settle or create thunderstorms in the middle of a settlement of the followers of the other god. Highly addictive!

  From EricSchaefer